1. Field of the Invention
The present invention resides in the field of photographic reproduction systems, and more particularly relates to a digital reorder system and method for making prints from film negatives.
2. Background
Film processing and reprint systems are known in the prior art. Conventional cameras produce photographic images on many different film formats, including 135 (e.g. print, black and white, and slide film for standard 35 mm cameras), Advanced Photo System (APS), 120, 126, and 110 film types. Prints are usually provided to a consumer in an envelope, along with negatives which are small, cut strips of film typically 3 to 5 inches in length. The negatives can include only a single frame or several frames in succession. Generally, the frames are identified by numbers printed below the image. The negatives are often flat and include from two to six numbered frames.
FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional negative strip 80 of 135 film. The strip 80 includes a plurality of frames 82 (as shown, three frames), each of the frames containing an image and being identified by a number 84 and a bar code 86. The bar code includes information such as the frame number, film speed, film type, and film length. The negative also includes tracking holes 88 for tracking through a camera.
Negatives can be used to make reprints of an image onto photographic paper. In photographic systems, negatives are the original source of the image and thus the best source for high quality reprints. However, the process of making a reprint from a negative is labor intensive and fraught with mistakes. For example, in conventional devices, an operator must align the tracking holes or sides of the negative strip and carefully insert the strip into a feeder. If misaligned, the negative strip will not feed properly and the feeder may jam or otherwise malfunction. The strip must be fed with the emulsion side faced upward, so that a camera can form the image on a print. After feeding the strip, the operator enters order information such as the quantity and size of reprints for a given frame number. This requires a step of monitoring which frame is in position under the camera while simultaneously reading and inputting the order information from an envelope or other source into the reprint machine.
Recent attempts at improving the photographic reprint process have included the use of digital scanning. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,885 discloses a digital recordation device which scans a negative strip to produce a digital file of the negative and prints a digital record of the file on the reverse side of a print. However, the above patent does not address the aforementioned deficiencies in the photographic reprint process. It would be desirable to have an improved digital photographic reprint process and apparatus which corrects the feeding problems in the prior art.
We now have found that orders for new prints, CDs, Index Prints, and digital files can be made from negatives using a reorder system and method including the steps of reading a bar code from a negative strip corresponding to individual frames on the negative and scanning the images corresponding to the given frames, in order to reproduce an image which is automatically manipulated by computer software so that the image is in a proper orientation to fulfill the order. Accordingly, an operator need not feed the negative strip in a particular orientation, because the image orientation will automatically be corrected after the scanning step. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a multiple strip feeder is disclosed for feeding a stack of negative strips into the reorder system.
The digital reorder system of the present invention includes a digital data scanner for reading bar code information printed on a negative strip and a digital camera for scanning images from the strip to form a digital version of the negative image. The digital image is stored in an image format file and is automatically manipulated by software residing in one or more computers to ensure it is in the proper orientation. By reading the bar code, information such as frame number, film speed, film type, and film length is automatically inputted into a computer. Such information is automatically matched with order information entered by the operator.
Accordingly, an operator can feed the negative strips into a strip feeder without engaging in time consuming efforts of positioning each negative so that the emulsion faces upward. Using the multiple strip feeder according to the present invention, the operator need only place a stack of negatives in a hopper, and the negatives automatically feed one-by-one into the strip feeder. This frees the operator to insert order information, such as the quantity and size of reprints, into the computer. According to the present invention, operator time is dramatically reduced and processing errors can be avoided.